HUNTERS SINCE THE BEGINNING OF TIME

HUNTERS SINCE THE BEGINNING OF TIME by Carlos Casas

Synopsis: HUNTERS SINCE THE BEGINNING OF TIME Along the coast of the Bering Sea a community of whale hunters are Chukotka. Siberia. Russia 2007 87 min. DVcam Color 4:3 struggling to survive keeping alive a millenary tradition. Surviving one Russian/Chukchi with English Subtitles. of the most extreme environments of the planet. Main Characters Director’s Statement: Edward Rypkirghin Vladimir Piny The film follows the life of the last whale hunters of Siberia, Their abil- Anton Rypkirghin ity to survive using archaic hunting techniques forced by International Commissions. The film is divided in two parts: winter and summer, Executive Producer I wanted to capture the hunting in all its splendor all its ritual with Federico Jolli its inner times and cycles. Focusing on their everyday hunting proce- Production dures, the film wants to transport the spectator to a scenario where Fabrica, RTSI one of ancient hunting traditions still exist. I was interested in their survival and their feeding cycles. A film that captures the honesty Editing Felipe Guerrero and strength of the worlds last whale hunters.From fish to seal to whale, we see the food chain of a whale hunter, their lifestyles, we Music and Sound witness the remains of a millenary whale hunting tradition that is Sebastian Escofet dissapearing. Survival in these desolate lands depends only on their Director, Photography and Camera hunting rituals. I wanted the film to be a sort of action hunting film, Carlos Casas without much dialogues a pure cinematic and visual experience. End Trilogy Patagonia, Aral Sea, Siberia SOLITUDE AT THE END OF THE WORLD Hunters since the beginning of time is the last part of a trilogy Tierra del Fuego, Patagonia. of films dedicated the most extreme environments on the planet, 2005 I was interested in living in these lands trying to capture those lives 52 min DVCAM Color styles which are dissapearing, I was interested in the collective imag- ARAL inary of these places and their mythic idea of the end of the world. I FISHING IN AN INVISIBLE SEA was interested in landscapes, places that carried in a certain way a Moynak. Karakalpakistan. feeling of the “End”, through abandon ness, remoteness, harshness Uzbekistan. 2004 52 min DVCAM Color of the land and of course living conditions, places that could repre- sent in a way a post apocalyptic future scenario and at the same HUNTERS time a certain archaic civilisation feeling. SINCE THE BEGINNING OF TIME Chukotka, Siberia. Russian Federation. 2008 I was interested in the people living in this peripheries of civilization 87 min DVCAM 2008 and how they survive their everyday life, why they were here and how they were managing to survive. I was interested in living among them, following their rhythms and trying to understand their ways, their reasons.

I firmly believe that in those places I found Human spirit in it’s most purest and sincere stage, away from a certain civilisation drive. I hope these people and their lives will spur a light onto those occidental and civilized viewers.

The film trilogy is dedicated entirely to the people who shared some of their treasure moments with me. I hope these films will testimony their existence. -Torino Film Festival2005 Contemporaneo. MexicoFICCO2006 deCine -Festival Internacional CompetitionDigitalSpectrum. Korea. FilmFestival2006, -Jeonju International theJury Special prizefrom BAFICI2006 Buenos Aires. -Festival decineIndependiente FilmFestivalIFFR2007 -Rotterdam Festivals: authors. experience forboththesubjectand andphysical amazing anthropological becamean situations. Thedocumentary timeinthisextreme tocapture Trying toit�sPatagonianlandscape. relation atmospheric feelingofisolationthe inthe dedication. We interested were their stories,withbeauty, dignityand tocapture customs, andthentrying their tocatchupwiththeirrhythms to try lived withthem,insilence,respect we their suffering, their innerstrength, understand theirstoriesreasons, to men toloneliness,isolation.We try tounderstandwhatdrives cases, trying solitude We lookingforextreme were Statement: Director’s world. ofthe of themostdifficultenvironments in asuspendedtimeoftheirown.Inone Theysurvive reasons. world fordifferent the ofthesemen.Isolated from of three tellsthestory alone. Thisdocumentary solitude, spendingmonthsand of theworld,fewmenleadlivesintotal In oneoftheleastpopulatedregions Synopsis: AT THEENDOFWORLD SOLITUDE Patagonia:

Photo by Adam Broomberg/Oliver Chanarin Editing Production, Casting and Locations Main Characters: COLORS FILMS and Fabrica SOLITUDE AT THE END OF THE WORL Felipe Guerrero, Peter Segundo, Music and sound presents the carpenter, Fernando Zuber Solitude at the end of the world. Sebastián Escofet Alfredo Manquin, Executive Producer Direction, Photography the sheper Fabrica DV Color. 52 min. Spanish with Subtitles in English d , Jorge Stylarek, / Renzo di Renz Carlos Casas and Fernando Zuber o

the fisherma

n D Centre Pompidou 2006Paris. Centre -Fabrica Cinema Festival -Leipzig FilmFestival2005. -Fotografia FestivalRome2005. -One World Prague2005, du ReelNyon2005 -Visions FilmFestivalIFFR2005 -Rotterdam -Filmmaker FilmFestivalMilano2004 Jury Special Mentionfrom -Documenta Madrid2005, BestDocumentary Winner -Torino FilmFestival2004 Festivals: biggest disastersofourplanet. asoneofmanmade sidered ofwhatiscon andmemory presence Aralstilllivesasaninvisible strength. it speaksonlyaboutthehumansurvival doesn’t speakaboutpoliticsorecology of peopleconnectedtotheirland.Aral ness androot of deathandstrength Itisafilmaboutthe process future. hopeful ofamore and hopeofareturn tokeepthetraditions nothing, trying from generationthatsurvives desert lakes, tillthe fishing intheremain through generation whostillsurvives wholivedthesea,toadult retired theoldfisherman, generations, from lastaffected thethree of aseathrough thedyingprocess We wantedtoportray Statement: Director’s disasters. Life afteroneofmanmadebiggest places ontheplanet. of thescarcest inone tosurvive struggle everyday the AralSea,Andtheirawaitingand in generationsof fishermen remaining filmaboutthethree A documentary Synopsis: FISHING INANINVISIBLESEA ARAL Aral Sea:

Photo by Carlos Casas Young Fisherman Editing Dotar COLORS FILMS and Fabrica presents ARAL. FISHING IN AN INVISIBLE SEA. DV Color. 52 min. Karakalpak, Subtitled Englis Sirodjidin, Felipe Guerrero, Sound Design Janibek Anuarov, Executive Producer FISHING IN AN INVISIBLE SEA ARAL

G iorgio Collodet, Adult Fisherman Kamilla Biktimirova, Direction, Photography and Production Tanjer Irsimbetov, Producer Old Fisherman

Renzo di Renzo, Fabrica, Jumagul Oltijanov, Carlos Casas, Saodat Ismailova

M usic Andres Reymondes Mutti, h - HUNTERS Siberia: ers. oftheworldslastwhalehunt strength thehonestyand A filmthatcaptures cinematicandvisualexperience. a pure of actionfilm,withoutmuchdialogues the whale.Iwantedfilmtobeasort the summer, thefishtoseal from to of awhalehunter, thewintertime from wanted tomakeafilmonthefoodchain andtheirfeedingcyclesI their survival in times andcycles.Iwasinterested all itssplendorritualwithinner the huntingin I wantedalsotocapture tional Commissions. byinterna hunting techniquesforced usingarchaic ability tosurvive tion ofChukchiwhalehunters,their tradi themillenary I wantedtocapture Statement: Director’s oftheplanet. environments oneofthemostextreme tion. Surviving tradi keepingaliveamillenary survive to struggling munity ofwhalehuntersare Along thecoastofBeringSeaacom Synopsis: SINCE THEBEGINNINGOFTIME

Photo by Carlos Casas SINCE THEBEGINNINGOFTIME HUNTERS Dir COLORS FILMS and Fabrica pr Executive Pr ection, Photography and Pr oducer federico Jolli, oduction esents HUNTERS since the beginning of time. DV Color Pr oducer Carlos Casas Fabrica, RTSI

Editing Felipe Gue rr er o,

Music . 87 min. Russian-Chukchi S ebastian Escofet,

Subt. English - - - - - Carlos Casas, Barcelona 1974 Selected Filmography HUNTERS Carlos Casas filmmaker and visual artist. his work is a cross be- SINCE THE BEGINNING OF TIME tween documentary film, cinema, and contemporary visual arts. His 87 min DVCAM 2008 last two films have been awarded in festivals around the world from SOLITUDE Torino, Madrid, to Buenos Aires, and some of his video works have AT THE END OF THE WORLD been presented in collective and personal exhibitions. 52 min DV 2005

In 2001 he started a trilogy of work dedicated to the most extreme ARAL FISHING IN AN INVISIBLE SEA environments on the planet, Patagonia, Aral sea, and Siberia. 52 min DV 2004 He is currently working on a film about a cemetery of elephants on the borders between and Nepal. ROCINHA DAYLIGHT OF A FAVELA 53 min. DV 2003 Director’s Biography Director’s Note To work with the material of my own experience Carlos Casas, Studied Fine Arts, Cinema and Design. In 1998 he of the world, concretely and ethically on the was awarded an Artist-in-residence in Fabrica, research and com- verge of contemporary anthropology and modern munication center of Benetton, In 2000 his short Film “Afterwords”, visual arts. To create documentaries, installa- tions and video works that present new ways of produced by Marco Müller and Fabrica Cinema was selected for approaching other realities through new forms of , Rotterdam Film Festival and Reencontres du narrative, in between fiction and reality, Focusing Cinema in 2001. In 2001 he started a series of documentaries on deep human themes, bluring the stereotypes for Colors Magazine, he traveled to Patagonia to do a fieldwork that of contemporary cinematic experience, as well as trying to capture the poetry of our everyday later in 2002 became a 24min documentary “Patagonia”, in 2003 life. he developed a 52 min documentary,”Rocinha. Daylight of a favela” Shot on location in one of the biggest favelas in Rio de Janeiro. In 2004 he finished “Aral. Fishing in an invisible sea” about the life of the three remaining generation of Fishermen in the Aral sea, which won the best documentary award in Torino Film festival 2004, and was selected for the Rotterdam film festival 2005. Visions du reel Nyon 2005, One world Prague 2005, and Documenta Madrid 2005 where it received the special mention from the jury. In may 2005 he finished a 52 min version of the Patagonia research “Solitude at the end of the world” which received the special prize from the Jury in the Buenos Aires International Film festival 2006. The Siberia project is the last chapter of a trilogy of films dedicated to the most extreme environments in the world. (Patagonia, Aral, Siberia) He is currently working on a film about a cemetery of elephants on the borders between India and Nepal. Fabrica Fabrica/COLORS Films

Fabrica is Benetton’s communication research and development COLORS Films are a new series of documentaries that follows the centre, created in 1994 from Benetton’s cultural heritage. With the tradition of COLORS Magazine, completion of the vast architectural complex which houses it, just and the experience of Fabrica Cinema. outside Treviso, restored and expanded by the Japanese architect The basic philosophy of the series is its Tadao Ando, Fabrica is currently enjoying a period of flourishing activ- desire to present the stories of cultures ity, positioning itself as a multicultural, international entity. and communities that rarely are in the media spotlight and whose stories need Fabrica’s challenge is both an innovative and international one. It is to be told. With the premise that diversity a way of marrying culture and industry, using communications which is positive and that all cultures have equal no longer rely only on the usual forms of advertising, but transmit value, COLORS Films are a cultural produc- tion of FABRICA, Benetton’s communica- “industrial culture” and the company’s “intelligence” through other tion research center. means: design, music, cinema, photography, editorial, internet. Fabrica has chosen to back the hidden creativity of young artists/re- contact: Loredana Rigato searchers from all over the world. Following careful selection, they [email protected] are invited to develop concrete communication projects, under the +39 042251 63 40 direction of some of the main players in these areas. www.fabrica.it Fabrica’s projects have involved diverse partners: from non-profit or- www.colorsmagazine.com ganisations like FAO, UN, UNHCR and SOS Racisme to cultural insti- tutes and museums of various countries, earning critical praise and awards that have led it to be hailed as one of the most exciting and internationally appreciated cultural centres. In this context, Fabrica Cinema was created in 1998, continuing the systematic intervention in favour of the new independent voices of the cinema of the “rest of the world” (particularly Africa, the Arab world, , Latin America) which has characterised the policy of social communication of the Benetton Group, already main sponsor and partner of the Montecin- emaverità Foundation in , together with the Division of International Cooperation of the Swiss Foreign Ministry. Fabrica Cinema Fabrica Cinema Films

Fabrica Cinema’s activities include the co-production, under the su- JOURNEY TO THE SUN by Yesim Ustaoglu pervision of Marco Müller, of a series of important films which have MOLOCH taken part in the major European film festivals. The latest filmssup- by Alexander Sokurov ported or co-produced by Fabricaare Tropical Malady by Apichatpong SEVENTEEN YEARS Weerasethakul (Thai) special prize at Cannes 2004, The reconstruc- by tion of Come back Africa by Lionel Rogosian, Venice Film Festival ADANGGAMAN 2005, Angel on the right by Djamshed Usmonov Cannes 2002 by Roger Gnoan M’Bala - Official Selection - Un Certain Regard, London Film Festival 2003 , BRAINSTORM FIPRESCI Prize, FILMEX 2003 – Special Jury Prize, Takht-e Siah by Lais Bodanzky (), by the young Iranian director Samira Makhmalbaf, won BLACKBOARDS by Samira Makhmalbaf the Special Jury Prize at Cannes 2000, followed by No Man’s Land NO MAN’S LAND by the Bosnian director Danis Tanovic (awarded the Best Screenplay by Danis Tanovic at Cannes in 2001 and in 2002 Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film FIRST DEATH EXPERIENCE and Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film), and by Secret Ballot by by Aida Begic Babak Payami (), Best Director Award at Venice 2001. Other AFTERWORDS award-winning films are Turkish director Yesim Ustaoglu’s Journey to by Jean S.Lallemand, Carlos Casas and the Sun (Blue Angel Prize for best European film and Peace Prize at Gianfranco Rosi the 1999 Berlin Film Festival), Moloch, by Russian director Alexan- SECRET BALLOT der Sokurov (Best Screenplay Prize at Cannes 1999) and Seventeen by Babak Payami ANGEL ON THE RIGHT Years by the young Chinese director Zhang Yuan ( for best by Djamshed Usmonov director at the 1999 Venice Film Festival). MUD by Dervic Zaim TROPICAL MALADY by Apichatpong Weerasethakul COME BACK AFRICA (1959) By Lionel Rogosin (South Africa)